Halong Bay is one of those places you've gotta see in Vietnam! It's famous for its karst landscapes, caves, and beautiful little islands. I joined a day tour and we took a 2.5 hour bus from Hanoi to the Vietnam coast to check it out. While waiting for our ferry I spotted three girls who … Continue reading The Day I Became A Translator At Halong Bay

I planned a long layover in Singapore on my way to Bali and that was definitely a mistake. One evening is not enough time here! A few facts about Singapore: Languages: English, Malay, Chinese, Tamil Almost all Singaporeans are bilingual! Currency: Singapore dollar ($1 USD=$1.3 SGD) Here are a few of the Singapore highlights I … Continue reading One Night In Singapore

Vietnam has been on my mind for awhile and I finally had the chance to visit this year. Traveling to Vietnam was a little different than my other travels namely because I went...alone. I've traveled alone to China, South Korea, and Singapore, but those were always just one or two days trips, either on the … Continue reading Solo Traveling Hanoi Vietnam

Holi is a special festival celebrated mainly in India, Nepal, and also by other countries and Hindus around the world. It symbolizes the end of winter and the beginning of spring and is also called the "Festival of Colors" because people will throw colorful powders all over each other! Holi was actually last week, but … Continue reading Happy Holi from Dongguan!

Much like China, Vietnam follows a lunar calendar and celebrates a different New Year's Day than other parts of the world. They call their festival Tết (short for Tết Nguyên Đán) and it is the most important holiday for Vietnam. I spent more than a week in the capital city Hanoi during the Vietnamese Tết … Continue reading Tết New Year with a Vietnamese Family

Happy Year of the Dog! This was my third year to experience Chinese New Year while living in China. I wasn't actually in China for the New Year's Day (more on that later), but luckily for me the Chinese Spring Festival holiday stretches out for 15 days so I could still be involved in some … Continue reading Celebrating the Chinese Lantern Festival

Ubud is a gorgeous little town an hour and a half north of the Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, Indonesia. If you've read Eat Pray Love, you'll recognize this town from the book, and even if you haven't it's still a very popular destination. While not close to a beach and not exactly the … Continue reading Magical Places You Can’t Miss in Ubud

I'm preparing for a few weeks of adventuring in Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam and I'm super excited! Every time I travel Southeast Asia the planning process gets smoother, cheaper, and faster (that's the goal anyways). When I travel I'm all about seeing as many places as possible while not spending an arm and a leg. … Continue reading Southeast Asia Travel Checklist

In China the primary social media apps are WeChat, QQ, and Weibo. I became pretty adept at using these (or more like obsessed with them) because they have so many amazing features and are so multi-functional! It takes a little bit more effort for me to check my American social media apps now. If you … Continue reading Chinese Social Media: 7 Cool Things You Can Do With WeChat

You'll see a lot of interesting things on the streets of China, and that's part of what makes living here so fun! Here are some of my favorite/most interesting fashion trends I've seen around China. PAJAMAS EVERYWHERE In wintertime it's not uncommon to see Chinese people walking around in their matching pajama set. In the … Continue reading My Favorite Chinese Fashion Trends

Guangzhou is a giant city well-known for its business and trade opportunities, like the Canton Fair. It's also thought to be a foodie's dream city, because you can find literally any kind of cuisine: Cantonese, Vietnamese, Italian, Mexican, Korean - it's all here. It's not the first place you think of visiting, however, when you're … Continue reading 10 Things To Do In Guangzhou

I often get questions about food in China: "What do you eat in China?" "Do you like Chinese food?" "What's the weirdest thing you've eaten in China?" Before I came to China I had no idea what I would be eating. Rice? (of course) Fortune Cookies? (no) Frog, bugs, and cow stomach? (sometimes). No lie, … Continue reading What Do You Eat In China?

China just celebrated the Qing Ming festival this past weekend, a holiday to remember their ancestors. It's also called Tomb Sweeping holiday because they will visit their ancestors graves to sweep them and show respect, sometimes leaving gifts. We had Monday and Tuesday off to celebrate the holiday and many of my students traveled home. … Continue reading Qing Ming Festival in Hong Kong

I don't think it's possible to fully be prepared for all the bizarre and beautiful things you'll experience in China until you're actually in China, but here's a few tips I can give you to help if you come live here (or if you're just curious what an American's life in China looks like). 1. … Continue reading 10 Tips For Living In China

One of the most bizarre things to happen to me in China was a few months after I first moved here. As you can tell from the title, I went on a date...but I DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS GOING TO BE A DATE. How do you not know? Well normally you talk to someone and … Continue reading The Time I Went On A (Surprise) Date in China